Active Listeners

Zenia

Zenia is a Filipino Canadian who grew up in the suburbs but loves living in downtown Toronto. She studied Psychology at Glendon College and then earned her BSW and MSW at York University. In her spare time when she’s not listening to live music or planning her next travel adventure, she presently volunteers with the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multi-Cultural Women Against Rape and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. Her interests include anti-oppressive practices, community development, intersectional feminism, women’s health, racial justice and supporting people who face many barriers accessing services. *She really likes how art can challenge social norms and ignite change.

Emmanuel Tabi

Emmanuel is a Ph.D candidate at OISE, University of Toronto. His work is focused on how reflections of race, gender and class intersect within Toronto and how they are performed through various forms of cultural production such as spoken word poetry and rapping. Emmanuel has been a spoken word poet for 13 years and is also a multi-instrumentalist who often employs the arts to connect with youth within the K-12 education system and through organizations such as The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Kerry’s Place Autism Services. He has presented his programs throughout Canada, the United States and Latin America. His present research looks at how cultural production is used to supplement the education system. He also examines how expression through the arts can provide spaces that allow for a more fluid examination of how we shape our understanding of “self”, others and the various communities we move through and exist within.